Wednesday, April 30, 2014

We were assigned to create a feature article on a topic involving "Valentines Day." I chose to focus on bad gift ideas and good gift ideas to help persuade people on what to not do on valentines day, and what to do instead.

Why did you choose this piece over the others we have done?

I chose this piece because I really liked my end result. I thought I added a decent amount of humor that was relevant to the topic and I liked the way it flowed.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the piece?

Strength was the structure of the feature focusing on the different topics while giving an introductions and conclusion. I liked how this flowed. Some weakness I felt was the length. I think I may have written a little too much because I remember I was supposed to keep it relatively short.

Without further ado, here is my Valentines Day Feature:

Love is in the air which only means one thing; it’s Valentines Day. A day where people spread love and kindness to their loved ones. This day could be full of stress and anxiety because if you have a significant other, you may not know what to do. If you’re single, try again next year. Couples around the world are scrambling to their local Rite Aid to buy on sale box of chocolates the night before. Some couples are all set, as they just bought a $15,000 diamond ring because their girlfriend is just so damn special. So what makes a good gift for Valentines Day? It really depends on the relationship you have with your significant other. If you’re married, you may do something sweet like a home cooked meal, and delicious desserts. If you’re in high school with a girlfriend, maybe you should just get some chocolates and a nice card, but if you’re in middle school just give her your Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles card.

Good gifts. What is a good gift? Is it a diamond ring? Technically yes, but some of you are on a shoestring budget so you won’t be able to afford that. Doing something simple isn’t lame or generic. It shows off the fact that you care and it’s the thought that counts. You can never go wrong with a heart shaped box of chocolates for guys or girls. I interviewed teenager Jonathan Mervine who’s been in a relationship with the same girl for over three years. “It really depends on what the girl likes obviously. You don’t need to go all out like it’s a birthday, or anniversary. Save your money and do something special for those days and not Valentines Day. Love isn’t an object, it’s the thought that counts. You don’t even need to get a girl anything, just give her your appreciation and show that you care about her. Trust me, that is the best gift idea for Valentines Day.” Jonathan made some great points about love not being an object. You don’t need to spend money to make people happy.

Bad gifts. What makes a bad gift? Some people would say this could be considered a good gift, but it truly isn’t. Anything with a price tag over $50 is a bad idea for a gift. I asked Brooke Heathco about bad gifts, and she said “What makes a bad gift is simple. Nothing at all. If you just write off this day as a normal day, that’s a bad idea. At least show some thought even if it’s a cheesy singing card. People don’t need to buy expensive jewelry as a Valentines Day present because it’s not as important as other dates, but to just not do anything at all, now that’s a bad idea.” Brooke made some interesting points. If you just ignore your significant other to stay at home and play Grand Theft Auto V, that’s a bad gift idea.

There you have it folks, these are helpful tips when it comes to Valentines Day. You don’t need to get a gift at all, as long as you show kindness and nice gestures you’ll be golden. If the other person doesn’t like the idea of getting absolutely nothing but appreciation, then you may not be in the right relationship. Enjoy your Valentines Day and let the love sweep you off your feet and skip with glee. Stay Safe.

What was the assignment?

To write an editorial that we had a strong opinion on. I chose to compare and contrast a topic I knew I could write for hours on, movies.

Why did you choose this piece over the others we have done?

Because I finally got the freedom to write about a topic I've wanted to write about for a long time. The past 3 years of high school I was forced to write essays I couldn't care less about and it was just a structure to follow and I couldn't interject myself into them. This class has allowed me to do that, especially 2nd semester and I felt as though this piece really got me to that point.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the piece?

I thought I did a good job comparing and contrasting the difference between mainstream films and independent. I thought I gave good insights to someone who may not know the difference. Weakness includes a very poor conclusion in my opinion. I went on for what seemed like a long time and then just ended it. But anyways...

Without further ado, here is my Editorial "Mainstream Vs. Independent."

Mainstream Vs. Independent

Some people may not even know what this title means or what I’m about to write, but this is about the two different categories of film. Mainstream films and independent films. Mainstream films are the type of movies you typically go see. Those big blockbuster action films with Michael Bay’s name stamped all over the posters and trailers. Movies such as Transformers with non stop explosions with absolute no plots and overpaid actors. Independent films are what a select few see. They don’t get wide releases, which mean they are harder to track down a theater that has it. Mainly small, art house theaters carry such films so you can’t blame the audiences with sticking to the explosions. What I’m here to write about is the difference between them.

Independent films are made with a little budget. Maybe five millions tops. Now this includes food, salaries, equipment, location permits, and post production work. Everything adds up quickly with filmmaking so they have to be conservative. What’s great about smaller films, is they have passion involved. The director and screenwriters usually have full control over their final product, whereas mainstream films the studios get a say in the final product taking away the true vision and passion the director once had. For example, one of the best movies that came out last year was The Spectacular Now. A story about young love with an aspiring message of living in the now. Not the present or future, the now. This film has such a strong message and incredible heart throughout. According to IMDB (Internet Movie Data base) the budget of this movie was $2 million, which in the industry they call a “snickers bar and a shoelace” budget. It proves that you don’t need a bug budget to make a great film.

Now mainstream films can be great as well. Recent films in my opinion include “Captain Phillips” and “Saving Mr. Banks.” Movies that had a big budget, but was in the correct hands and came out to be very good. Going back to last year again, one of the worst movies was “The Lone Ranger.” Which had a budget of $250 million. Now I can’t imagine how much money $250 million is, but I know it’s a lot. But knowing that this money went to make this awful film. If you watch the film, you can’t help but wonder, “was $200 million just the paycheck for Johnny Depp?” It doesn’t make any sense once you seen the final product.

I’m not saying that all mainstream films are terrible. Like I’ve stated, I’ve enjoyed many that have come out. It’s the fact that they cost so much, but with little payoff then what you’d get with a smaller made film. When a film has such a big budget, it’s mainly a paycheck for the actors and studios rather than invest it to make a film great. Independent movies have smaller budgets that are put towards the film itself to make it high quality and great. It’s not the money that makes a movie incredible, it’s the vision the filmmakers have.

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Using blogger was a very fun way to go about writing assignments. Having people comment and share so quickly was a lot of fun to do. Having the iPads for the device kind of ruined some of the experience as it would randomly not let you type more and just log out. Also typing on the iPads was just the worst, especially for very long assignments. Overall, I really liked using blogger to post all of our work, and I hope it stays active because I can see myself going back here in a few years and reading some of our posts.

Here it is. The grand finale. We have completed Journalism 1 & 2 and now our final assignment was to create a movie review of our senior year. I loved this assignment because I personally do video movie reviews, so it was fun to pretend like my life was a film and I had to review it. So here it goes. Senior Year, Movie Review.

“Drake Unchained” Movie Review

Rated: PG-13

It’s senior year. The last year of High School for 18 year old Spencer Drake, our protagonist. The last 3 years flew by for him and this was his time to shine. The plot follows Spencer going into his senior year following his activities in classrooms, sports, and social events leading up to his graduation. We see the ups and downs of senior year for Spencer, and all the obstacles life throws at him. “Drake Unchained” is directed by Christopher Nolan from the “Dark Knight” trilogy and written by Aaron Sorkin from “Social Network.” The film stars Spencer Drake, Jonathan Mervine, Joe Nixon, Brooke Heathco, and Ben MacMillan. Going into this film I had high hopes. A camera crew was going to follow a senior named Spencer Drake and chronicle his life during the biggest year of his life, senior year. I figured it was going to be like “Project X” or “American Pie” but wow was I wrong. I was very disappointed. Spencer’s life is very boring. He goes to school everyday, but hardly stays in school. The kid has so many study halls he ends up just going home and snuggling with his dogs halfway through the day. Spencer’s senior life was no “High School Musical 3: Senior Year” filled with upbeat dance and song performances and cliche moments. Then again, this movie was no “Carrie”, never bullied and didn’t go crazy in the end. Some of the highlights in the film included some great skiing scenes while attending his state meet for alpine skiing. Very action packed and fun to watch. I also really enjoyed the scenes involving Journalism class. Seemed like a very engaging and entertaining class. The film really dragged during the fall season unfortunately. He wasn’t involved with sports, and just went to the gym most days which was repetitive and annoying to watch. Director Christopher Nolan uses rich cinematography and makes Maine looks like it’s own character. The fall leaves, winter snow, and spring green grass pop on screen and really draws in the audience. Spencer’s supporting friends really gave this movie some great comedic moments. Constantly ripping on each other while still maintaining good friends. Although I found Spencer’s life to be boring, director Christopher Nolan makes this film go by incredibly fast. The guy never did anything real exciting so it must have been easy to do so, but it worked well because I was out of the theater quickly. Overall, “Drake Unchained” was a disappointment as a film. It may have been awesome for the character Spencer pretty much taking an off year and doing well in his classes, but it didn’t need to be adapted into a movie. The film has solid directing, writing, and cinematography but it doesn’t justify the excitement on screen. Grade: C

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Funny, heartfelt, and charming. Those are just a few words to describe "Partly Cloudy." Director Peter Sohn brings animation to life following birds that deliver babies. Wether it's puppies, kittens, or just real human babies made from the clouds. One cloud in particular has trouble fitting in. All he can make with his magical powers are hurtful dangerous creatures that his bird transporter has trouble delivering because he gets so abused. What's so great about Pixar is they really know how to tug on your heart strings. With feature length films such as Wall-E, Toy Story trilogy, and Up (in which Partly Cloudy played before.) With shorts, it's no exception. There's a strong message in the short film that describes friendship in which I found inspiring. These short animated films are meant for kids and they send the right message to them even if they don't realize it. The animation in this short is breathtaking, and the music is superb. It really added to the emotional depth and I couldn't help but smiling. What's so great about Pixar, is that they don't need to have dialog in the short stories. In this movie all the characters did was grunt and make sound effects but it worked extremely well. In fact, I don't know if I would have enjoyed it as much if it had dialog. Overall, if you're in the mood to feel uplifted and happy, checkout "Partly Cloudy." Just sit back, relax, and let that smile wash over your face.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

If you are thinking about seeing a particular movie, would you consult a movie review for a recommendation? Why or why not?

I'm personally a movie guy. I've always been fascinated by films and that's the reason I'm going to college so I could someday work in the industry. I always check Rotten Tomatoes and movie reviews before I check out a movie. Unless it's a movie I don't want to know anything about I'll go in completely blind of reviews and trailers just to get emersed into the film. But generally I check reviews, but I still see them anyways.

What types of useful information can a movie review offer you? List as many as you can.

How engagging the film is, if the acting is good, if the production value is good, or maybe if a movie truly misses and is a dud. Movie reviews can offer lots of value because people are trying to help you save $10 at a theater. You don't want to waste your money on a bad movie, right?

How often do you think young people consult movie reviews before watching a movie?

Surprisingly, a lot. I see tons of people go on Rotten Tomatoes in school to check the score of an upcoming release. I saw lots of people looking forward to "Divergent" and within the first few weeks it had a 17% out of 100% which is bad! and it turned a lot of people off from seeing it I'm sure.

What aspects about movie reviews make them a positive or negative influence on your decision to watch the movie?

Movie reviews tell you if a film is good or bad in their opinion. Movie reviews should talk about the positives in a film such as acting, character development, and cinematography. It should also dive into the negatives like cheesy dialog, messy screenplay, or sloppy direction. If what the movie reviewer is saying in their review and if it fits what your looking for, then check it out.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

— If you’re a student who is finished with the college process, what advice would you give high school juniors?

Not to do everything last minute. Narrow down the schools you like and apply as soon as you can. Colleges get thousands of applicants and if you're one of the first ones you'll hear back quickly and have a better chance to get in. Definitely take college tours during vacation and summer because you want to make sure you've been there and like the campus because that's where you'll be living for the next four years of your life. Also I know it can be tough for some people, but try to have a general idea of what you want to do so you can pick the right school that offers what you want to learn and make sure it's affordable.

— What is your idea of what the perfect college for you might be? Why?

Normal size campus nothing too big or too small. I don't want to go to a huge school with a ton of students in your lecture classes. I like smaller sized classes where you can get to know the professor and the students around you. I want to study video production in college so I've picked a great place that offers that as your major and gives you the tools that real Hollywood films use to make the movies.

— In the end, how much do you think it matters where you go to college? Why?

It doesn't really matter where I go to college to be honest. The job that I want to have doesn't even require you to study video production. I could go to school for English and still be able to get a job as a camera operator. But it helps out to have the four years studying film to get the jobs because if the application comes down to 2 people, they'll see one person that majored in video production, and the other majoring in English. They'll most likely pick the video production man. As long as a college interests you and offers courses you want to take then it doesn't matter where you go, as long as you are willing to spend the next four years of your life there.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

— Do you think SAT scores could be a good indicator of future career success? Why or why not?

No i think that's horrible. Transcript and resume should be what you submit, not an SAT score. Like what we've been saying.. The SAT is one test you take on a certain morning. That can effect a lot of people. Some people can't focus in the morning, some people could feel sick that day, some people may not to tests well at all. It's a horrible idea to have future employees submit SAT scores since colleges have started to settle down on them.

If you were on a hiring committee at a workplace, would you consider SAT scores as part of an applicant’s materials?

Absolutely not. This is exactly what I talked about in the paragraph above, but I would not consider it. I would want to see how the employee did in school, college, and resume of previous work or community service work. That shows what kind of worker they are, not some dumb test. Socially dumb people could score really high on the SAT because they're good at tests, but in the work force they could be terrible and just chase butterflies all day.

— What if a job applicant did not take the SAT? Do you think some employers would penalize that person? How should this situation best be handled, in your opinion?

They should know that this person didn't do well on the SAT but it doesn't mean they're stupid. They could actually be very smart employees. If I had a smaller company and for some reason we allowed employees to submit SAT scores and if somebody didn't want too, I would be totally okay with it. I would prefer to meet the person for an interview anyway because a test doesn't tell if somebody isn't a hard worker.

Monday, March 24, 2014

In environmental science we've done a lot of assignments based on climate change. We did a weather unit recently and learned about all the different weather patterns. Other than that we haven't really learned about climate changes freshman year we should have but didn't. I'm very much used to the climate in Maine. Summers are extremely nice and hot and winters are brutally cold and miserable.

Schools should teach more on climate change and to study the patterns. Obviously everyone keep on talking about how the world is going to end and our earth will be polluted, so something we can chose to do is recycle more. Bottles, paper, plastic, anything that's recyclable. Maybe instead of in school suspension when they just sit in a room all day playing iPad games they can pick up trash?

It's quite concerning to really think about it. In the article it mentions that spring comes early and ice starts melting. It's very odd because this year in January the temperatures reached 50 degrees. That's not right.. Especially for Maine. We didn't get snow until February for the past few years so something is off with the seasons. There' isn't really much we can do on the matter other than do huge best we can with cleaning up.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

I don't personally see myself joining a fertinity. I have a inside joke with one of my friends that all fertinity members are still in the closet with too much testosterone. Obviously it's not the case though. I've heard lots of stories about pledging and hazing. My sisters boyfriend has told me about a time he had to kidnap someone. It doesn't sound fun at all, but once your in, I can see how it would be pretty fun. You make great connections and lifetime friends in fertinitys so it can be a good thing, we just hear about all the bad stuff. If all fertinitys were like the ones in Monsters University I would go.

— What do you think fraternities could do to police themselves? Is what Sigma Alpha Epsilon doing enough?

They could easily settle down with the hazing and pledging. Look back in history.. 12 people have died because of the fertinity. That's not a small number, that's huge. 12 lives gone because they are so stupid. Cut down the hazing even if they get somebody like Pimmy, it's not okay. Sigmas Alpha Epsilon I think is heading in the right direction cutting out pledging and hazing.

— What do you think would be lost if there were no fraternities on college campuses? What might be gained? Would banning fraternities substantially lessen problems like sexual violence and alcohol-fueled injuries and deaths on college campuses or not?

From what I've seen from ferternities is in movies. From what I've heard from ferternities was second hand experience. I don't know what would actually happen if they got rid do ferternities, but my guess is that there would be a lot less parties, and hopefully more lives saved.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

1. Weather in Maine..
Talk about bipolar.. Some mornings it'll be -10 degrees outside and as the day goes on it'll get to 67 degrees. No weatherman can accurately estimate the weater, for example no one knew it was going to snow today??

2. Bumper Stickers
A great way to ruin your car! I put a ton of bumper stickers on my old car and when I went to sell the car it devalued some of the money because taking the bumper stickers off was such an annoying hassle.

3. Facebook
The biggest time killer of all time. I think Facebook is dead.. A lot of interactions that used to happen on Facebook don't happen anymore. It's all trashy kids posting private feelings, then screaming at each other.

4. School Lunch
True story, I've never had school lunch in high school. Not since 8th grade. Something about school lunch really grosses me out. It doesn't look like food, it looks like food they feed to cows right before they slaughter them.

5. Lying.
Something that everyone has done.. If you say "no I've never lied" then you're lying. At some point in anyone's life they tell a lie. Wether it's to get out of something, or you want to impress your friends for some reason.

6. Spending money
I love spending money of stuff, but then again I hate it. I love having money on me and I know when I spend it it's going to be gone. It depends on what you spend your money on I guess.

7. Reality TV
One of the stupidest topic of all time. Keeping up with he kardashians.. It's only popular because Kim Kardashians decided to film herself having sex, and now they are billionaires. I hope they're proud.

8. Gun control
Kind of confusing because you can talk about this for hours. Is it right? Is it wrong? There's no answer other than opinion. I think people should be allowed to carry a gun, guns don't kill people.. People kill people.

9. Senior Privilages
One of the best things in the world. I was able to use them this year and go home during my study halls and it's amazing. I have a lot of free time during the day and I get to go home for lunch, and sleep in during the day.

10. Having a job
Like I said with the money topic.. I love getting money. Jobs are jobs.. They're work. Sometimes it can be really fun and you can't believe you're getting paid to do what you do.. But other times it's truly work and it really sucks.. Good wash dishes.. (Koe Zixon)

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

I believe a good 90%. I say 90% because the work I want to get into is all about the connections you make. I want to be a camera operator in films and to really achieve that job you can't really go into an office and apply. You have to meet people in the business and they recommend you to film it. After while you keep building your resume with films and then you get hired left and right. I bring back the 90% because I have to get myself out there to meet people. I can't just sit around in Maine and wait for the phone to ring, I have to start making connections right away after college. The other 10% relies on the people I do get to meet and work with.

— Do you think you will be better or worse off than your parents? In what ways? Why?

That's hard to say.. My parents both have very different jobs the what I want to do. My parents do well for themselves, and I don't quite know how much a camera operator get paid. It depends on how much work I can get as an operator to determine if I'll be better or worse then my parents. I'm hoping for better off, but I don't quite know yet.

— Do you feel your fate is already predetermined by your lineage — your parents and ancestors? Or do you feel you are in the driver’s seat in determining your own success?

I strongly believe I'm in the drivers seat taking action on my own dreams. Of course I get pushed along from time to time but I feel like I have the control. No one in my family has ever gone near the industry I want to be in so I would finally be doing something different. Both my dad and grandfather were salesmen, so I'm going the complete opposite direction. Most of my family has found success, so I do think I will be able to find success as well.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

3. They keep on writing "fact" and "claim" before they're about to say something boring and dull. It takes you out of the article because anyone can just copy and paste facts.

4. Yes you can easily tell that most articles are very biased wether they try to hide it or not.

5. It's more formal and boring. These articles aren't as interesting as a feature article because with feature articles you can connect more with your reader and can sense a personality without being biased.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Is everyone creative?
Yes, I believe that everyone is capable of being creative. You just have to put your mind too it and spend some time thinking and brainstorming ideas and you'll be able to create wonders. I think you can learn to be creative because it takes time to be creative.

Do you wish you could take a creative writing class?
Yeah I think it could be a lot of fun. I feel like I can be creative if I really sit down and focus and it would be interesting to learn the different methods of how to be more creative.

What of these problems annoy me?
Definetly the roommate talking until 4 in the morning. Especially if your in college you have a big day ached of you. The sound proof curtain is awesome, but it would make the room incredibly small, but I think it would be a great idea.

Monday, February 3, 2014

What are the rules of interviewing?
1. Don't ask yes or no questions
2. Keep it short
3. Make the questions more important than the answer.

Not to do while interviewing:
Don't make the interview about yourself, focus in on the person being interviewed and try to get them to open up and not ask questions that will just give viewers aka Howard Stern.

Troubles I've encountered?
I interviewed one kid who'll I'll name.. Doe Mixon.. Who gave me nothing but one word short answer s throughout the whole interview. He clearly didn't care about the topic and wanted to focus on Asphalt 8 instead.

What can I do to improve?
Try to make the topic relevant to the person and try to get them to connect with it. I should of asked Doe Mixon some questions that he could possibly relate too.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

I think it's absolutely ridiculous that people think Macklemore & Ryan Lewis "robbed" the black rappers. We've moved passed the segregation times a long time ago. I believe the Grammy should go to the person who truly had the best rap album of the year. It's an award show and you never know what can happen and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis won beating out other black rappers. There's no whites vs. blacks here, it's just music. The Heist was a phenomenal album and he deserved the Grammy. I haven't heard any of the other rappers music, so I'm not saying they're bad or anything, I'm sure they're fantastic. Music is without a doubt fair game.. Blacks don't always rap either.. There's been hundreds of famous black musicians that don't rap and we aren't saying they robbed the whites in a rock category. Whites and blacks are free to do whatever they want and if a white man makes a rap album that wins a Grammy, then that's the case, there's no segregation involved. Music is for everyone.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

It's been quite different from when I was in American Studies last year because we were writing 5 paragraph essays (something I'm not very good at.) then we transition here in journalism where the writing is more opinionated and we get to write about topics that interest us and not about revolution or civil rights where it's all a bunch of made up knowledge. It's been an interesting and fun year exploring writing.

Where have I struggled?

Usually when I write an essay or "articles" I just write until I can't write anymore. I just let it flow out the I go back and edit it. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't it can make my sentence structures off and become repetitive.

Where have I succeeded?

I think where I have succeeded is coming up with a solid voice. I feel like all my writing has a particular voice to it wether it be some witty sarcasm, or opinions on certain topics.

What you'll find down below is my College Essay and my feature article. The reason why I chose to use my College Essay is because of how much I worked on it. This wasn't an easy assignment, and the one I ended up hanging in was changed almost 100%. I decided to completely re-write it because I felt that it was "bland." I spent many hours working on this piece of writing and I think it definitely shows. I've gotten it proof read up to six times so I feel this is an adequate essay that should qualify for this blog post. I feel as though I developed a good voice in here which was tricky since I was writing about myself. Here is the College Essay:

It was a beautiful summer day and the
children were laughing, splashing around and having a great time in the pool in
the back yard. The little 2 year toe-head boy pulled away and quietly wandered
into the house and toddled down the hallway to the den. His mother followed behind with the video
camera to see what he was up to. He
sifted through a stack of VCR’s, turned on the TV, put a video in the player,
hit “play” and then became mesmerized by the images in on the screen with the
cartoons dancing and singing. This
little guy couldn’t even speak full sentences yet knew how to run the TV and
VCR systems throughout the house. He
found the magical world of film intriguing beyond belief.

When my mother showed me that video of
me as a toddler it was clear that my passion and interest for film, movies and
the technical side of production had begun early. Throughout my school years the projects I
embraced and excelled with involved producing some sort of video, slide show or
mini-movie. Admittedly, that is where my
natural interests and skill lean – not with traditional learning such as math
and science, which I always have found difficult – unless I can incorporate
some sort of movie production into the assignment, the subject matter just
never really excited me.

During my junior year I undertook one
of my biggest school projects. I elected to create an interactive video about
the jobs that people held during the Great Depression. It took two months to design, write, film and
countless hours editing – yet it didn’t feel like work to me. I was thrilled to present the project to the
class, and my English teacher absolutely loved it. I think he gave me the highest grade he had
ever given a student on this annual project.
Later he approached me to ask if I would consider creating a personal
video for him to show at his upcoming wedding. I gladly accepted, and the next
few months I worked one on one with him to produce the show. Completing a personal project for my teacher
and knowing that he selected me for my skill and was willing to share such
personal information with me was an eye opener. The feeling of
self-accomplishment and pride stayed with me for months after.

This event was confirmation that I needed to find a way to
build a career from filming, camera work, and editing. I love conveying a story on film and all the
technical work that goes on behind the scenes.
It has been a passion all of my life and I believe I should follow that
into my post high school education. The little boy did eventually learn to
speak but he still tends to be more of a listener than a talker.

For my next piece of writing, I decided to pick a more recent writing piece. I chose to do my feature article about Senior Spirit Day. This was actually an incredibly fun assignment. I loved getting to interview people and then writing about it. For some reason I really enjoyed it. Getting different opinions on topics and what makes it more fun, is that you get to write it without displaying your own opinion! I really liked that. I think I had great strengths with intertwining the interviews and showing other peoples opinions. I thought I described events accurately and kept it unbiased. Without further ado, here is my feature article.

Senior Spirit Day

For many years at Freeport High School there has been a certain day dedicated to letting lose. Making the shy students shine and becoming a cheering classmate. Bonding with students you may not know and forming new friendships. A day where even the teachers can connect with the student body and have a great time. This day is called Spirit Day. This big day is located the Friday before February vacation allowing students to get even more pumped up throughout the day. Spirit day is organized by having shortened classes in the morning leading up to lunchtime so kids can get their academics out of the way and get their vacation homework. Once lunch breaks, the game begins. Earlier in the week students sign up for activities they want to do. Activities include photography, dodgeball, scavenger hunts, and sometimes frisbee. When the activities are over the entire student body meets up in the gymnasium and cheers with their classmates while watching their friends compete in fun mini games like tug-a-war, relay racing, and a fun game of knockout basketball. The school shakes with the competitive sounds of screaming, yelling, and cheering. Once the mini games are over, the classes disputes and says their good-byes heading home to enjoy their week off.

Recently there's been an issue regarding spirit day. Before spirit day even happens, a selective amount of students from each class stay long hours after school decorating their assigned hallway a class color. Red, green, blue, and black shine brightly in each hallway. People buy decorations from Walmart and even get colored food and drinks that match their class color. This was a big part of spirit day, but now the students aren't allowed to do it. This caused and uproar for many students when they found out the news. I had the chance to interview fellow seniors Livvy Dimock and Mary Gregory who are very passionate about the new rule. Livvy said "I think it's ridiculous because it was what we've always done." When I asked her about considering an alternative, she replied, "Doing themes instead of colors maybe? I'm not sure, nothing will beat decorating the halls. That was the best part about spirit day and it made it so much more fun then it already was." I asked Mary the same question and she replied "Honestly nothing, decorating the halls was what made spirit day what it is. Nothing can change it." When I asked her what she thought of the new rule, I got a very passionate answer. "I think it's a little unfair. We've been doing this for such a long time and now that we're seniors we can't do it anymore. For spirit day, you HAVE to be a senior to win and it just feels like it's more controlled and strict now." I got some very passionate answers from most of the senior class. When I sat down to talk to fellow senior Joe Nixon, I didn't get much of a reaction. We talked about spirit day very briefly since I was getting one word responses. He didn't like spirit day at all and that it was "boring." I asked his opinion on the new rule and he replied, "I don't care." So clearly this new rule doesn't effect everyone.

The senior class is desperate to make sure they get their privilege on decorating the halls. Many students are outraged upon hearing the news and want to find a way to make spirit day back the way it was. Although spirit day isn't for everyone, it's still a day where the student body can get together and let everyone know that they all have class spirit. On spirit day you don't see jocks, nerds, geeks, or hipsters. All you see is the class color because everyone is equal at Freeport High Schools spirit day.